This system is awesome. It is exactly what the title says, a minimalist view of the Year Zero Engine. It is a framework that can be easily adapted to any setting. I used it to play Mutant Year Zero and Forbidden Lands and it worked really well. I also used it to play few sessions of my own setting. It is also a great foundation to develop your own game. Thanks Matt for this amazing system!

Year Zero Mini has been designed to provide a light framework to allow you to quickly jump into your favourite setting. I used this as my RPG with a steampunk setting. I used A Collection of Fantastic Fantasy Sewer Random Tables to create the adventure (also at DriveThruRPG, 104 pages). To solo this, I used Engines & Empires (same place) with a yes/no/maybe oracle. I created four PCs and a small savage dog name Booster. Of the five characters, Booster has the biggest personality. Take away his treat and he will tear off your leg.

The adventure started up at the Eagle’s Nest. It is a tavern up at the top of an airship docking station. The PCs were looking for adventure and they did get invited to a private party in the back. Unfortunately for them, the wine was drugged and they passed out. When they woke up, they were belted/locked to chairs which were bolted to the floor. The villain, on the other side of the table, gave his speech of his plan for world domination. When the speech was over, he pushed a button and the floor panel flipped. This put the PCs upside down in a room with a low ceiling (all of the ceilings are made of metal down here on this level, level A). Liza the rogue tried to use her hidden picklock set, but failed. (Note – failures give experience. Nice.) Max the mage cast strength boost and broke free. He did free the others. Did I mention water flowing into the room? Yes, this is a problem. Liza was able to unlock the locked door which put them into a hallway with lots of locked doors. They found a lighted area, but Max got hit with an arrow. It came out of the darkness. They tried to reason with the NPCs, but Max got hit with another arrow. They ran away, stopped, listened, and heard the barking of Booster. Liza got through that locked door and they found Booster and all of their stuff. Behind the next locked door they found a dirty, messy library with no books.

Their next encounter was with four NPCs and a fox (twice the size of a normal fox). Their was a conversation, but they did not want to join forces. They continued to explore. The lightning trap did two damage to Liza. The crate with straw did not help them and neither did the room of bones. The next trap dumped them into the sewage moat (level B) which did move them along. They could not the break the glass window they encountered. They started to lose hope and then a man wearing an anti-gravity belt took Liza up to level A. She persuaded him to rescue her friends. They had a chat with him (Will) up at Level A. He was not a happy guy. They then heard a noise, the ceiling rose up, light came in, fresh air came in, and they discovered the ceiling was actually the bottom of a large airship which was still rising up. Will says that he now knows where they are and that he can lead them to a safe place. They reach the home. Booster is smelly and dirty. He is ready for his treat.

Give this RPG a try!

A great small game that helped me introduce some people to TRPG's and tabletop game design. Really worth playing, especially if you liked other Year Zero Games.

Clear, concise, flavourful, and makes you want to play right now. What more can you ask from a rules-light RPG?

This is pretty much the perfect one-shot system, in my opinion.

I am a newcomer to the RPG world, and YZM was one of the first games I played. It was very easy to learn, and a great way to be introduced as a new player! The rules were easy to understand, and creating my character and joining the adventure was a ton of fun! I look forward to playing again.

I ran a 6-part 6 player campaign using the Year Zero Mini Playtest Ruleset and really enjoyed it.

We're an experienced game group and were able to get to grips with the easy to use system straight away, even the PCs who are not so comfortable with crunch and complexity. The Dice-pool system is really easy to understand and the PCs enjoyed working with their concepts and assests to build their pools and turn events to their advantage. Fundametally, being able to roll a big handful of dice always feels good!

As a GM, I liked the tools to help world building and the emphasis on quick NPCs and flexibility. I thought the way Knowledge was handled worked particularly well and meant we never got bogged down in worrying about who knows what. I ran most of the campaign remotely (via zoom) and the system held up to this testing enviroment.

At the price, it's a steal. Definitely one to buy.